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American Sign Language (ASL), like any other language, allows you to communicate your feelings. You can sign about how that movie made you sad or how seeing your Deaf friend made you happy: Angry: Make the open-5 hand shape, palm toward your face, and pull your hand away from your face, scrunching up your fingers.

Practice signing these basic expressions in American Sign Language (ASL) to meet and greet people, join in on conversations, answer questions, and be polite and courteous.

Signing one-word questions in American Sign Language (ASL) is a way to initiate small talk, get to know people, and gather information. When you sign these one-word questions, look inquisitive; the facial expression will come naturally when you are genuinely interested. Also, tilt your head and lean forward a little as you sign the question.

In American Sign Language (ASL), knowing how to sign the cardinal (counting) numbers helps you in everyday situations like banking and making appointments. Pay attention to the way your palm faces when you sign numbers. For 1 through 5, your palm should face yourself. For 6 though 9, your palm should face out toward the person who’s reading the sign.

As you become more confident in your ability to communicate through American Sign Language (ASL) and begin to meet Deaf acquaintances and form friendships, keep some simple etiquette do’s and don’ts in mind.Do’s To get a Deaf person’s attention, tap him or her on the shoulder or flick the light switch. Let a Deaf person know that you can hear and that you’re learning Sign.

Learning the manual alphabet in American Sign Language (ASL) will help you when you don’t know a sign as you begin communicating. If you don’t know the sign for something, you need to use the manual alphabet to spell the word, or fingerspell. Check out and practice the manual alphabet:Note: If you need to fingerspell a word that has two letters that are the same, make a small bounce between the letters or simply slide the repeated letter over slightly.

How to sign cardinal (counting) and ordinal (ordering) numbers will get you through everyday situations. When you want to specify that there’s more than one item — plural — you sign the item first, followed by the quantity. Unlike English, you don’t have to change the item to a plural by adding “s.” You need to show what the item is before you can tell someone how many.

Looking around your cubicle or office, you have many things to sign. American Sign Language (ASL) provides you with a way to communicate what office supplies you have, need, or want to a Deaf colleague or friend. Try the signs in this table. You may find the sign for clock to be a bit tricky, but it’s really pretty simple.

When isn’t the weather a popular topic for discussion? If you want to chat about the weather with your Deaf friends, practice the American Sign Language (ASL) signs in this table, and you’ll be as right as rain. Check out these weather signs and give them a whirl. Try replacing them with other weather signs to give yourself some weather-conversation practice: English: It is cloudy today.